Inside the lifetime of ‘Ticket Queen’ who ‘rinsed’ music followers of money
She gloried in shamelessly calling herself ‘the Ticket Queen’.
But there was nothing regal about Maria Chenery-Woods and her household ticket tout operation.
From a sleepy nook of Norfolk two sisters and their companions ran a complicated and felony ticket promoting enterprise with the only real purpose of fleecing harmless members of the general public for as a lot cash as doable.
Chenery-Woods, 54, was the ‘driving power’ behind TQ Tickets Ltd – promoting tickets to all the highest live shows and exhibits by way of ticketqueen.com.
No trick or ruse to acquire valuable tickets for main occasions was too dodgy for these scammers in pursuit of non-public riches.
To the informal client Ticket Queen appeared like a good company promoting tickets for giant identify exhibits and live shows, together with Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Elton John, Gary Barlow, Take That, Michael Bubble, Little Mix, Tom Jones and lots of extra.
Maria Chenery-Woods (circled within the reflection) shamelessly known as herself ‘the Ticket Queen’. Her daughter Paige is pictured left and her companion Mark Woods is correct
Mother-of-three Chenery-Woods, 54, and her group ran the multi-million pound enterprise from the house (pictured) she shared with companion Mark Woods, 60, within the village of Dickleburgh, Norfolk
Mark Woods (L) and the ‘Ticket Queen’s’ sister Lynda Chenery (R) are pictured at Leeds Crown Court after being discovered responsible
Lynda Chenery’s husband Paul Douglas (pictured) is believed to personal ‘a number of properties’ and is promoting an house with swimming pool within the island of Ciovo, Croatia, to lease
Sister Lynda Chenery, 51, was formally firm secretary and Paul Douglas (pictured collectively), 56, was ‘Ticket Boy’ or the second in command. They lived in the identical sleepy village however have since break up up
Investigators moved in on TQ Tickets after receiving ‘intelligence’ as a part of a wider operation on main tout organisations
National Trading Standards investigators found that in two years between 2015 and 2017 TQ Tickets Ltd racked in £6.5m from the fraudulent ticket enterprise
In a world the place a ticket to a Taylor Swift live performance is like gold mud – promoting out in minutes – followers are keen to pay nearly any value for a golden ticket or, as was typically the case with this operation, a pretend ticket to the massive occasion.
Mother-of-three Chenery-Woods and her group ran the multi-million-pound enterprise from the house she shared with companion Mark Woods, 60, within the village of Dickleburgh, Norfolk.
The idyllic sprawling property is about in fields on the outskirts of the village, which has a personal courtyard with swimming pool.
It has been in Woods’ identify for greater than 30 years in the past and its actual worth is unknown. But it sits next-door to Dickleburgh Manor, which went in the marketplace for £950,000 in July 2020.
A strong Mercedes AMG two-door coupe with a personal quantity plate was parked outdoors at the moment, together with a darkish good automobile.
It’s not simply the Ticket Queen and her companion in crime who reside in luxurious there. A grand hen hutch, painted crimson, that Chenery-Woods proudly shows because the profile photograph on her Facebook account is believed to be value round £1,000.
One native mentioned: ‘They’ve clearly bought numerous cash to splash round. Most of us have fundamental picket huts and hen wire for our birds.’
Despite having no qualms about ripping folks off, Chenery-Woods has maintained a really low public profile.
Her Facebook web page has a profile image of her chickens as an alternative of her, details about her international journey, some outdated hyperlinks to live shows involving Ticket Queen ticket gross sales and a hyperlink to a vacation rental enterprise.
The solely photograph MailOnline might discover of her was at a household meal by which she is seen in a mirror reflection taking the {photograph} of her companion and kids.
Some tickets introduced in large income.
Two £47 tickets for the Last Night of the Proms on the Albert Hall in London had been offered for a complete of £924.
While two £80 tickets for an Anthony Joshua versus Wladimir Klitschko boxing struggle every offered for £418.
Selling tickets to the Harry Potter play in London’s West End was extremely profitable.
Two tickets within the stalls had been offered for £725 per ticket – a mark up of over 500 per cent.
The piles of tickets discovered by buying and selling requirements investigators within the firm workplace included tickets to a 2017 Lady Gaga concern in Birmingham, the Sports Personality of the Year occasion in Liverpool in the identical yr, a Michael Ball and Alfie Boe live performance and a Peter Tong occasion in Manchester.
There was a stack of Ticketmaster tickets for a stand-up gig in January 2018 on the Manchester Arena by American comic Chris Rock.
A file filled with bank cards – many below the identify Chenery-Woods – was seized as proof as properly.
The firm started as a authentic coach touring enterprise however was nothing of the type.
Sister Lynda Chenery, 51, was formally firm secretary and her husband Paul Douglas, 56, was ‘Ticket Boy’ or the second in command. They lived in the identical sleepy village however have since break up up.
The household would cease at nothing to purchase tickets below a number of names and with a number of credit score or debit playing cards.
The courtroom heard how they roped of their kids as properly.
They used the id of Chenery-Woods’s ten-year-old son George to purchase £3,500 of tickets, together with a gig by the heavy metallic band Five Finger Death Punch.
Douglas is pictured with former Norwich supervisor Daniel Farke who’s now in cost at Leeds
Chenery-Woods’ TV producer daughter Paige (pictured), 27, was inspired to use for a number of playing cards, the courtroom heard
Pictured is an workplace the place the ticket firm was raided by investigators
Pictured is the house of Lynda Chenery, the place she used to reside with Paul Douglas
Investigators discovered the corporate purchased 47,000 tickets utilizing 127 names, 187 electronic mail addresses and 200 postal addresses
Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford, KC, advised the jury at Leeds Crown Court they might safely assume a boy of 10 would not be going to that live performance.
Chenery-Woods’ TV producer daughter Paige, 27, was inspired to use for a number of playing cards, the courtroom heard.
While Lynda Chenery’s son Jack, 27, was additionally used to purchase tickets. Friends had been persuaded to hitch within the operation – taking a reduce for themselves.
They offered their particulars or purchased tickets to be resold and obtained a share of the income. The courtroom heard hampers and reward vouchers had been additionally used as an inducement.
Indeed, the operation was much more refined than simply utilizing the names and playing cards of some family and friends members.
And it appears the household operation turned considerably infamous and a explanation for dispute within the rural backwater.
The landlord of the village pub, The Crown, mentioned the household had not visited since a violent incident shortly after they had been first accused of the large fraud.
The publican, who gave his identify as Andy, mentioned: ‘We had a run-in with him [Mark Woods] and his son a number of years in the past when it was his birthday.
‘There had been some folks within the pub whose mom labored for them and he or she was implicated in it unknowingly, so there was dangerous feeling when Mark walked into the pub.
‘I requested him to go away as a result of it triggered a little bit of an issue and his son put his fist by a window. There was blood in every single place.’
Andy added the household owned two cottages subsequent door that they rented out, though he wasn’t certain ‘if the Inland Revenue find out about them’.
He mentioned: ‘I knew the 2 individuals who lived within the properties, though one has now died. They had been at all times requested to pay in money.’
National Trading Standards investigators found that in two years between 2015 and 2017 TQ Tickets Ltd racked in £6.5m from the fraudulent ticket enterprise.
Ruth Andrews, the National Trading Standards regional investigations supervisor who led the group, mentioned how a lot of that was revenue is unknown however it definitely was a ‘vital proportion’ and bumped into ‘hundreds of thousands.’
Exactly how a lot is left would be the topic of a Proceeds of Crime Act listening to in future, as makes an attempt are made to regain the ill-gotten good points.
Douglas is believed to personal ‘a number of properties’ and is promoting an house with swimming pool within the island of Ciovo, Croatia, to lease.
While Chenery-Woods has additionally clearly loved a luxurious life-style of international journey as properly.
There had been additionally journeys to Croatia and the Harvey Nichols Champagne Bar in Knightsbridge.
She toasted the high-life in 2014 with a photograph of two glasses of bubbly at a bar – one for her sister Lynda – and the caption: ‘I wished espresso!! But impolite to not.’
She loved different holidays – Renaissance Phuket Resort and Spa in Thailand, and Austria.
National Trading Standards have launched photographs of the tickets that the fraudsters had been promoting
Investigators recovered 124 debit and bank cards from the workplace. Pictured: Some of the tickets being offered
The household resold the tickets they purchased fraudulently on secondary ticketing web sites corresponding to Viagogo, Seatwave, Stubhub and Getmein, for giant income
Chenery and Woods had been discovered responsible of three counts of fraudulent buying and selling after a trial at Leeds Crown Court
During their investigation police discovered the corporate purchased 47,000 tickets utilizing 127 names, 187 electronic mail addresses and 200 postal addresses. They additionally recovered 124 debit and bank cards from the workplace.
Computers had been used to vacuum up tickets from main websites corresponding to Ticketmaster, Eventim, SEE Tickets and AXS, to be offered on at as much as 5 occasions the face worth.
Trading Standards discovered they used a specialist software program Insomniac Browser – designed to be used by ticket touts. It enabled them to make use of a number of on-line identities and proxy IP addresses to purchase a mass of tickets on the similar time.
The household resold the tickets they purchased fraudulently on secondary ticketing web sites corresponding to Viagogo, Seatwave, Stubhub and Getmein, for giant income.
Chenery-Woods and her group made contacts from a few of the secondary websites to assist in their operation. Ms Andrews mentioned they ‘bought tickets out the again door’ from these contacts.
Even when the Ticket Queen group was unable to acquire tickets to a live performance that did not cease her promoting them anyway.
They would promote non-existent tickets, with false details about seats and row numbers, at an inflated value. When the actual tickets could not be discovered they ship empty or torn envelopes within the submit to make it look as if they’d gone lacking accidentally. This was often called ‘doing a fraudie.’
While the usage of ‘fraud juice’ concerned utilizing Tipp-Ex correcting fluid to amend tickets manually, together with extra skilled digital strategies to amend tickets to make them seem actual.
Investigators moved in on TQ Tickets after receiving ‘intelligence’ as a part of a wider operation on main tout organisations.
The sprawling manor home in Norfolk, with its resident chickens and views throughout beautiful countryside, was raided with beautiful leads to December 2017.
Investigators discovered incriminating Skype messages. In one Douglas mentioned to Chenery-Woods that the aim of the enterprise is to ‘merely rinse customers for as a lot revenue as they’re keen to pay’.
Woods advised the courtroom he believed there was ‘nothing untoward’ about his spouse’s enterprise.
He mentioned TQ Tickets was an ‘obsession’ for her, telling jurors: ‘She turned fully obsessed. It took precedence over me, the household, and it triggered battle.’
However, in addition to supplying a number of debit and bank cards he additionally labored as an govt with Phillips UK and as a perk of the job was capable of receive NFL seats in London to be resold.
Chenery and Woods had been discovered responsible of fraudulent exercise over their involvement in ‘dishonest’ Norfolk-based touting agency TQ Tickets Ltd
Woods even offered greater than £1million to the corporate to purchase tickets.
Chenery mentioned she did some book-keeping work for her sister’s agency however didn’t assume TQ Tickets was concerned in any form of fraud.
She mentioned she turned firm secretary after being requested by her sister, however this didn’t contain performing any duties.
The jury dismissed these protestations of innocence.
Chenery and Woods had been discovered responsible of three counts of fraudulent buying and selling after a trial at Leeds Crown Court.
Chenery-Woods and Douglas had admitted the identical offences.
They shall be sentenced at a later date.
After the listening to Lord Michael Bichard, Chair of National Trading Standards, mentioned: ‘Millions of individuals spend their hard-earned cash on tickets for music live shows and sporting occasions every year. Buying a ticket in good religion after which discovering it’s a part of a fraudulent rip-off may be deeply distressing and may have a substantial monetary influence on customers.
‘This is a landmark case for National Trading Standards and I hope this prosecution helps progress in the direction of a step-change within the secondary ticketing market, making it simpler and safer for customers shopping for tickets sooner or later.’
